Computer-network providers and/or operators face many challenges in delivering network services to customers or partners. The provided computer network may be very large in terms of nodes, bandwidth, and throughput; it may be physically dispersed over a large area; and it may include a wide variety of different types of hardware and software. Furthermore, software designed to monitor a computer network for errors or anomalies may itself be fragmented into multiple different programs designed to monitor different aspects of the computer network. Such a variety and complexity of both the computer network itself and of the monitoring software may make it difficult or impossible for a network operator to detect problems or to do so efficiently. In addition, even if problems are indeed detected, they may be lost in a much greater number of false-positive error reports and mistakenly ignored.
Therefore, a need exists for an improved method, apparatus and system for diagnosing network anomalies and allocating repair resources for computer networks in a more reliable and efficient manner.